Liz Stauber Movies
- 2006
- R
When a once-successful a cappella singing group reunites to perform at a fellow singer's wedding, regrets from the past and hopes for the future all come pouring out into the open in director Bruce Leddy's nostalgic reunion film. In college they were treated like rock stars, but these days life isn't so glamorous for the singers whose fleeting taste of fame preceded a humbling fall into relative obscurity. It's been 15 years since the group has performed together, but when one of their own prepares to take his wedding vows and requests that the group back him up, no one can resist the opportunity to recapture a little bit of that old magic. From the recently downsized Ted and the newly divorced Richard to music-studio peon Will and frustrated tech support guy Dave, the future just didn't turn out how these golden-voiced crooners had hoped; only the mellow Spooner and Los Angeles-based TV producer Steven seem truly fulfilled in their current status. But now their buddy Greg is getting married, and the time has come to celebrate his nuptials in song. As the largely frustrated but still talented lot arrives at Spooner's sprawling family beach house in order to rehearse for their performance, these longtime friends will finally have the opportunity to lay to rest longtime grudges, reveal longstanding secrets, and test the strength of their powerful bond on the eve of a life-altering event that promises to bring them closer together than ever before. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Molly Shannon, Mark Feuerstein, (more)
A young woman struggles to find herself despite the often oppressive influence of her family in this independent comedy drama. Sarabeth Cohen (Marla Sokoloff) has recently graduated from art school, and is determined to strike out on her own and establish herself as a painter. Her first bold step toward independence is moving away from home and getting a job in Manhattan, which doesn't do much to please her mother, Ruthie (Tovah Feldshuh), or her father, Isaac (Ronald Guttman), who don't make a secret of the fact they don't care for her artwork or her ambitions. Sarabeth's first steps toward her own life aren't very impressive -- short on money, she ends up moving in with her sister Raquel (Idina Menzel) and her sister's well-meaning but clueless husband, Howie (Jayce Bartok), and discovers her bedroom is a walk-in closet. Sarabeth also finds she isn't cut out to be a waitress, which makes the constant comparisons to her other sister, Becky (Liz Stauber), a hard-working medical student who is hiding her lesbianism from the family, all the more painful. And as Sarabeth struggles to find her place in the Big Apple, her boyfriend, Simon (Rob McEhenney), begins moving away from his own creative ambitions toward an easier life as a businessmen. The Tollbooth was the first feature film from writer and director Debra Kirschner. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marla Sokoloff
- 2003
Azazel Jacobs' Nobody Needs to Know is an unconventional indie art film. The audience hears the voice of a rap artist on the soundtrack while seeing images of New York City. A director is attempting to cast the female lead in his new movie by having the women improvise death scenes. When one mentally unstable woman leaves the audition, the director is overcome with the desire to locate her. Nobody Needs to Know was screened at the Rotterdam Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tricia Vessey, Liz Stauber, (more)
The Oprah Book Club best-seller by Janet Fitch makes it to the big screen in this adaptation from British director Peter Kosminsky. White Oleander recounts the traumatic adolescence of Astrid Magnusson (Alison Lohman), who finds herself an orphan after her short-fused, enigmatic artist mother Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer) is carted off to prison on murder charges. Astrid first finds herself in the care of Starr (Robin Wright Penn), a garish, born-again mother of two with a gruff but sensitive boyfriend (Cole Hauser). From there, she's shunted back to a state-run facility, where she tangles with other troubled teens and finds temporary solace in the arms of Paul (Patrick Fugit), a dough-faced comic book artist with dreams of moving to New York City. Astrid then lucks into a living arrangement with a successful but insecure actress (Renee Zellweger) who offers her unconditional love. But Ingrid's stifling influence continues to haunt her daughter, whether through the occasional prison visit or via manipulative letters to Astrid's caretakers. White Oleander received a Gala North American premiere at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival before reaching multiplexes later that fall. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alison Lohman, Michelle Pfeiffer, (more)
After suffering a brutal rape, Marie (Katharina Wressnig) becomes agoraphobic, refusing to leave her house and remaining oblivious to events in the outside world. Though young women are being found dead and mutilated on local freeways, Marie takes in boarders, one of whom is Tom (Peter Sarsgaard), a cryptic young man who works as a cook on an offshore oil rig. Despite Marie's paranoid musings -- Tom begins lugging around garbage bags and locking the kitchen door to cook various meat dishes -- the two form a relationship. This relationship is first interrupted by the arrival of Marie's flirtatious sister Mignon (Angeline Ball) and then by Tom's sudden disappearance. Ironically, his absence gives Marie the ability to finally leave the house and thus get on with her life. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kathi Wressnig, Peter Sarsgaard, (more)
After the success of Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and television's Dawson's Creek, screenwriter Kevin Williamson made his directorial debut with this screwball thriller in which an honor roll student and two friends kidnap their witchy teacher. Although her single mom (Lesley Ann Warren), a waitress, struggles to make ends meet, aspiring writer Leigh Ann Watson (Katie Holmes) works hard, avoids sexual temptation, and focuses on her studies. She hopes to make valedictorian and earn a scholarship to college -- and get away from her dead-end hometown. As her senior year draws to a close, however, she's dogged by harsh grades from her vituperative history instructor, Mrs. Tingle (Helen Mirren). On the same day she finds out that she's still in second place behind fellow valedictory candidate Mary Beth Carter (Liz Stauber), Leigh Ann must endure Mrs. Tingle's fierce criticism of the final project into which she's poured her heart. After commiserating with her best friend, aspiring actress Jo Lynn Jordan (Marisa Coughlan), and hunky stoner Luke Churner (Barry Watson), Leigh Ann runs even further afoul of Mrs. Tingle; Luke stashes an advance copy of the teacher's final exam in Leigh Ann's backpack and Tingle discovers it, promising to turn Leigh Ann in for cheating and ruin her chances of a better life. When the three teens turn up at Tingle's house to try to reason with her, Luke and Jo Lynn manage to accidentally kidnap Mrs. Tingle. Soon the three students are keeping their teacher a prisoner, trying to figure out how to blackmail her into silence while maintaining the illusion that nothing strange is going on. Teaching Mrs. Tingle was filmed under the name "Killing Mrs. Tingle," but the title was changed after a rash of real-life high school killing sprees made the headlines. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Mirren, Katie Holmes, (more)
Three stars team up for this unusual look at America's role in the war against Iraq. In 1991, as the Gulf War winds to a close, three American servicemen find themselves happy to have achieved victory but wondering about the ultimate importance of what they've done (especially since Saddam Hussein is still in power). Major Archie Gates (George Clooney) is a decorated Vietnam veteran and special forces officer with two weeks to go before he retires; Sgt. Troy Barlow (Mark Wahlberg) has a new baby at home; and Chief Elgin (Ice Cube) is probably just going to end up back in Detroit. So when one of them comes across a map that seems to point out where Saddam's forces have stashed a large cache of gold they stole from Kuwait, they decide to follow the trail and take some of the war booty for themselves. However, the deeper they journey into Iraq, the more they see of the consequences of America's policies in the Middle East. Although President George Bush and the American military urged Iraqi citizens to rise up against Saddam Hussein, and pledged their support to a people's movement against the leader, Iraqis found that when they took to the streets against Saddam, the United States did not back them up, and the loss of Iraqi lives was fearsome. When Gates, Barlow and Elgin become aware of what's happening, they're torn between their desire to grab the fortune they came for and the demands of their conscience to help the people they came to liberate. Three Kings was directed by David O. Russell and marked a significant change of direction after his dark-humored relationship comedies, Spanking the Monkey and Flirting with Disaster. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, (more)
Brett Leonard directed this 3-D Imax short feature (running 45 minutes) about a famous paleontologist's teen daughter, who's able to enter into the world of the dinosaurs. In Alberta, Canada, Dr. Donald Hayden (Peter Horton) and his assistant Elizabeth (Kari Coleman) find a Tyrannosaurus egg. Donald's daughter Ally (Liz Stauber) hopes the egg will prove her theory that dinosaurs were ancestors of present-day birds. Back at their museum, Ally knocks the egg on the floor, loosening some strange dust. At night, a T-rex skeleton springs to life, and Ally discovers she can use museum exhibits as a springboard for time travel, encountering famed dinosaur illustrator Charles Knight (Tuck Milligan) and paleontologist Barnum Brown (Laurie Murdoch). She also sees a flying Pteranodon, an Ornithomimus and other creatures -- which all become extinct in the meteoric conclusion. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Horton, Liz Stauber, (more)
